New Research Workers Grant

About the award

The New Research Workers Grant is aimed at researchers studying for higher degrees, and typically supports field expeditions, geological surveys, visits to laboratories, purchase of essential field equipment and laboratory analyses. Preference will be given to those who have limited access to funding for such activities. Please note that labour costs and radiocarbon dating are not supported. 

Award Amount

The maximum award is £1,650. Multiple grants may be made in each round.

Eligibility 

To be eligible for the scheme you must be a registered postgraduate with a current membership of the QRA at the time of application. You must not yet hold a doctoral degree or a tenured academic position. The scheme is not open to undergraduates. Postgraduates are only eligible to apply once for the NRWG during their studies. Postgraduate status is considered to end at the time of submission of the research dissertation or thesis. A letter of support from the applicant’s PhD supervisor must accompany the application. 

Application details

The online application form will take your details including project title, proposed dates for the funded activities, a breakdown of the main budget costs, and a 100 word project summary. 

You must also prepare a Case for Support that outlines the science case for the research and explain fully how the funds will be used. This should be no more than one side of A4, 12 point single-spaced, including figures and references. The Case for Support can be uploaded as a single file not exceeding 50Mb. 

A letter of support is also required from your supervisor – submitted as a separate file.

Reporting requirements

Successful applicants will be expected to submit a brief report (500-800 words) for publication in Quaternary Newsletter during the 12 months following expenditure of the grant. Applicants are encouraged to submit full-length articles to Quaternary Newsletter. These will be subject to the normal refereeing procedure for QN articles. Applicants submitting full-length articles are not required to submit the brief report in addition. Reports should be submitted by email to the Awards Officer at awards@qra.org.uk. You will not be able to apply for other grants until you have received confirmation of the successful receipt of your report. An exception applies for the Postgraduate Conference Fund, which you may apply for while currently holding a New Research Workers Grant.

Application deadlines

Twice per year on 15th February and 15th September.